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Supreme Court was set to overturn Roe v. Wade in 1992's Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Private notes just released from the late Supreme Court justice Harry Blackmun show that the Supreme Court was ready to overturnRoe v. Wade in 1992's Planned Parenthood v. Casey case. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was set to write a five-justice majority opinion, along with Byron White, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Anthony M. Kennedy.

It was Kennedy who jumped ship, joining with David Souter and Sandra Day O'Connor on a compromise measure, which reaffirmed the right to abortion but revoked Roe v. Wade's calling that right "fundamental." In the final Casey decision, the court ruled that states can put limits on abortion, such as requiring women's "informed consent" and parental notification for minors.

"I need to see you as soon as you have a few free moments," Kennedy wrote in a note to Blackmun, who wrote the Roe decision. "I want to tell you about a new development in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and at least part of what I say should come as welcome news."

Well, not welcome news, of course, for the more than 44 million killed since Roe. But this development may energize those who believe Roe can't be overturned. (The National Right to Life Committee has some commentary on the Blackmun papers and their media coverage.)

KOCE: We won't sell to Christian broadcaster, even if it's the high bidder
KOCE, a public television station in Huntington Beach, California, was sold to a local foundation. But it sure looks like the actual high bidder was the Christian Daystar Television Network, based in Texas..

KOCE officials earlier claimed that they followed the law, which required a sale to the "highest responsible bidder," suggesting that Daystar is irresponsible. Now they're pointing to a line in their initial sale announcement that "the district reserves the right to reject any and all proposals."

In any case, it seems clear that KOCE is rejecting Daystar's money simply because it's religious.

Daystar, which sued last week to have its high bid accepted.. This week, Coast Community College District, which owns KOCE, filed a countersuit.

"We made the decision to sell KOCE to the foundation with the best interest of the district, its students, and the community in mind," district board President George Brown said in a written statement quoted by The Orange County Register. "We have at all times sought to comply with the law and preserve KOCE as an asset for the community at large. If we did something wrong, we want to know about it immediately so that we can correct whatever mistakes we might have made in the process. That is what our court action is all about — getting to the truth."

That's nice. And if the court says it was the wrong thing, would KOCE accept Daystar's bid? Brown says no:

"We'd like to have the right to go back and rebid or keep the station rather than sell to Daystar."

More on life ethics:

• Anti-abortion politics gets nastier | John Ashcroft has no respect for privacy (Marianne Means, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
  
  
• Activist trying to revive rallies against abortions | Operation Rescue founder tones down delivery in attempt to raise ongoing support (The Indianapolis Star)
  
  
• Ideology, science cross in 'Plan B' battle | Why has it been so hard to make emergency contraception easy? (Ellen Goodman, The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Stem cell ideologues | The president should be seeking the best information and opinions, not just ones he agrees with (Editorial, The Boston Globe)
  
  

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March (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48